The estimated $119 billion in purchase-mortgage originations during the first quarter was up 15 percent over the level at the same point in 2012.

Through the first quarter of 2013, 1.1 million borrowers have received permanent HAMP modifications, well below the 3 million to 4 million the Obama administration projected when launching the program in 2009.

The jumbo market is heating up with offerings from both EverBank and MountainView.

The long-awaited boom in nonperforming loan sales may finally be here, as megabanks such as Wells Fargo, Citigroup and HSBC have begun testing investor appetites by offering large packages in the open market. According to investors and advisors who play in the space, Wells recently auctioned off an $800 million NPL package and HSBC sold a $750 million portfolio. Recently, Popular Bank said that it entered...

John Robbins is out at Bexil American Mortgage. Meanwhile, EverBank readies its second jumbo MBS deal of the year.

Non-agency MBS execution is competitive with agency MBS execution for purchase mortgages with loan-to-value ratios below 70 percent and credit scores above 740.

Banks and thrifts reported $7.7 billion in mortgage banking income during the first three months of 2013, a 16 percent jump from the previous quarter.

Citigroup will pay Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac damages for the faulty MBS it sold to them but no one knows the cost of the settlement.

The auction market for nonperforming mortgages is beginning to generate heat with prices rising nicely from last year.

Come next year, Freddie Mac will assess lenders a fee of $7,500 if they fail to deliver mortgage loans with an aggregate principal balance of more than $5 million.